2007 marked a successful year for overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) affairs. With more preferential policies issued, particularly the Government’s decision to grant visa exemptions, more and more Viet Kieu have returned to visit and invest in key industries and their remittances have also increased sharply.
Nguyen Thanh Son, Chairman of the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) talked about the year’s impressive figures in an interview granted to Reporter.
Reporter: What do you think of overseas Vietnamese affairs in 2007?
Mr Son: The Viet Kieu have integrated well into the communities of their resident countries and have all made more contributions to the homeland. They were happy at the country’s political, socio-economic development achievements as well as the implementation of the policy on “great national unity” by granting visa exemptions to Vietnamese nationals residing abroad and searching for the remains of soldiers of the former puppet regime.
Many activities were held last year for Viet Kieu. This included youth exchanges between young overseas Vietnamese around the world and their peers in the home country, and fundraising campaigns for the poor, victims of Agent Orange and natural disasters, the elderly and orphans. The proceeds channelled through COVA last year reached VND4.7 billion, or VND2.9 billion more than the previous year’s figure. In addition, Viet Kieu remitted a record high of US$5.5 billion to the homeland, making a substantial contribution to national development. An estimated 500,000 Viet Kieu returned to visit and enjoy the traditional lunar New Year Festival (Tet) with their relatives in Vietnam. These figure show their growing sentiments for the homeland as well as the correct policies of the Party and State that consider Viet Kieu as an indispensable part of the nation.
Every year, we organise a Tet get-together between Party and State leaders and Viet Kieu, and around 1,000 Vietnamese nationals attended this year’s event. We worked with the Ho Chi Minh Museum to organise an exhibition entitled “President Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Kieu”.
Reporter: Thanks to the Party and State’s preferential policies, more and more Viet Kieu have returned to the homeland not only to invest in economic activities but also to contribute their talent to developing high-tech industries. What do you think about this trend?
Mr Son: To date Viet Kieu have invested in around 3,000 projects with a total registered capital of VND30 trillion. In 2007 many Viet Kieu-run companies were licensed to operate in Vietnam. It was reported that about 60 percent of these projects have operated efficiently, thereby contributing to socio-economic development, creating jobs and reducing poverty in various localities.
HCM City licensed 514 such projects capitalised at VND2.23 trillion. The Saigon Hi-tech Park attracted 12 overseas Vietnamese investors operating in the information technology industry. Among them, TMA Solutions is the country’s biggest software development company employing 500 staff.
In 2007, several overseas Vietnamese business associations in Europe established liaison boards to facilitate links with their counterparts in the homeland. A host of seminars were also held in Vietnam during which the Viet Kieu put forth initiatives aimed at enhancing trade, economic and investment activities in Vietnam, as well as promoting economic links between Vietnam and foreign countries.
Over the past few years, many overseas Vietnamese intellectuals have made contributions to strengthening cooperative ties between Vietnamese universities and research institutes with foreign universities and scientific organisations. Many professors from the US, Canada, France and Japan have been invited to give lectures at Vietnamese universities.
Reporter: The Government is said to offer more preferential policies for overseas Vietnamese. Could you further elaborate on these policies?
Mr Son: The Government has assigned COVA to coordinate with (i) the Consular Department, the Ministry of Justice and other relevant agencies to perfect regulations on the nationality of overseas Vietnamese, (ii) the Ministry of Finance to draft an inter-agency circular regulating the import of vehicles by Viet Kieu, (iii) the Ministry of Construction to complete the revision of Decree No90 and relevant documents regarding house ownership for Viet Kieu, and (iv) the Ministry of Education and Training to continue with the project “Teaching and Studying Vietnamese for overseas Vietnamese”.
In 2008, we will also strengthen activities to preserve the national cultural identity and support the teaching and study of Vietnamese by building schools and opening classes, particularly during the Summer Camp for young overseas Vietnamese.
Reporter: Thank you.